Crazy little thing called life

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
~Walt Disney

During the month of December I get a wonderful Christmas present from my company. I only have to work from 9am to 3pm. The extra two hours of freedom a day has been overwhelming in the past. What to do with that time has caused such inner turmoil that I give up trying to think of what to do. I then end up spending my afternoons on the couch, watching a movie that you could not pay my husband to watch with me. I then feel awful because I go to bed at night and realize that I have been off work for 7 hours, and I did not get anything accomplished. For some of you, an afternoon on the couch is an accomplishment in its self. But I come from a heritage of perfectionists who, if they knew how I spent my valuable free time would blush. I have a grandfather that is constantly cleaning. He will literally take your pizza plate to the kitchen if there is nothing on it... even if you just picked up your slice to take a bite. He has a very clean house as a result, but his grand kids have very messy hands.

Well, once again, December is here, and I am determined to not waste any of my afternoons off. I have a whole list of things I want to accomplish, and I plan on actually following through with those things. (thanks to my kitchen command center I mentioned in my previous post - also something I have done with one of said afternoons) Last night I experimented with a new recipe. I LOVE Chinese food, but as much as I enjoy cooking, I have never attempted to make it. The frozen food section of my local grocery has a great selection of Chinese food, and all I have to do is warm it up. Thank you PF Chang's... I love you. Yesterday, my dear friend and I were talking about what to make for dinner, and she mentioned that she loves to make Asian food, and that her grandmother, who is Japanese had taught her as a child. This inspired me. I printed off some recipes and headed to Walmart. After buying more sauces, and vinegars than I knew existed, and some wonton wrappers, I was an Asian food expert in-the-making.

My two dishes of choice were crab rangoons, and lettuce wraps. They are both quite easy, but here are some tips I came up with based on my experience: Just because you really like crab does not mean that you should put more crab than required in the filling. This is a mistake. Also, the wonton wrappers burn quite easily, so do not have your oil to hot, and don't put to many in at one time. I pan fried mine this time, but I am going to try baking them using a muffin tin, or pulling out the deep fryer and seeing if that method helps me any. Here are the recipes I used.
Crab Rangoon
Lettuce Wrap

I forgot to take pictures, so I will include a pic. that my friend took of her rangoon experience.